Recently, during a seminar at Portsmouth College (where I am Chaplain) a student asked a most intelligent question. "Why" he asked, "didn't Jesus write any of his teaching down? It would have made it so much easier to know what the truth is".
I don't know what the religious background of that particular student is, but many of our students are Muslims - who regard the Qur'an as the very words of God - transmitted directly, and without human interpretation, directly through Muhammed. This is somewhat in contrast to the belief of most Christians who (rightly I think) regard the Bible as a collection of books which were inspired by God, but most definitely written by human hands. (There are of course some Christians who have a more 'dictated' view of the Bible...but that's a topic for another day.)
So why didn't Jesus write his teachings down? The stories we do have of him, in the Gospels, certainly indicate that he could read...and even if he could not write, he could have quite easily dictated his message. Why didn't he?
Perhaps Jesus realised that if he were to write his teaching down, it would quickly become the source of arguments between people of passionate view-points. Human language is such a limited medium...it is so often unable to carry the shades of meaning that a speaker wishes to convey. (I know of what I speak after many sermons!)
Perhaps Jesus wanted to leave enough space between his spoken words for the Holy Spirit to be able to do the job of interpretation...at a much deeper level than words alone can penetrate. Perhaps that is why he spoke so often in parables too: parables are fictional stories which contain truth...truth which can speak to our hearts not our heads.
Well...it's a theory. Have you got a better one? Click on the 'comments' link below to share it!
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